


By Any Other Name

by Asselin



Category: Hakuouki
Genre: F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-23
Updated: 2017-11-23
Packaged: 2019-02-05 19:34:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12800856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asselin/pseuds/Asselin
Summary: "I want to take your name," she says. "I don't want to be a Yukimura anymore."





	By Any Other Name

**Author's Note:**

> This was written when I first (briefly) got into Hakuouki. Almost exactly a year later, I've returned to the fandom and decided it's time for this fic to have its day in the sun.

"I want to take your name," she says. "I don't want to be a Yukimura anymore."

In the four years he's known Chizuru, Harada has never heard her sound so resolute. The words are meant as much for herself as for him, as though saying the words out loud will help exorcise all the evil that's been done in the Yukimura name. In her name, even. The actions of the man who raised her is enough to turn Harada's stomach, and he doesn't want to think what it does to Chizuru when she remembers how Koudou used to be, before she'd ever fallen in with the Shinsengumi.

"You sure?" he asks, laying a steadying hand on her shoulder. "It doesn't have to be mine, after all... You could be anyone you wanted to be, under any name you want--" He doesn't want her to feel obligated to tie herself to him if she doesn't want to. Learning of his secret dream affected her deeply, and he knows that, but the last thing he wants is to find that she's been forcing herself to stay by him out of pity. He wants her to be happy, and if that means letting her make herself into a stranger, then so be it.

"I know who I want to be," she insists softly, "and I know what name I want to be buried under."

A warm mix of surprise and satisfaction fills him at her words, and he can't resist rolling her new name off his tongue just once. "Chizuru Harada..." A chuckle escapes him. "I could get used to that."

"So could I." Her smile blooms slowly, staining her cheeks with rosy pink and making her eyes glitter. It bolsters his confidence enough to let a cheeky grin onto his face.

Hearing her admit that she wanted to be part of his dream will always be his favorite memory, but this might not be so far behind.

 


End file.
